FLYING HIGH!
Everyone catches on with Brady
Guregian: Brady spread wealth in win vs. Texans
FOXBORO — They had tight ends catch the ball. They had running backs catch the ball. They had receivers catch the ball. And, they even had a fullback catch the ball. Tom Brady doesn’t have enough weapons?
Tell that to the Texans, who spent all afternoon trying to figure out which of eight targets Brady would deliver the ball to during the Patriots 27-20 season-opening win over Houston at Gillette Stadium.
While Brady’s usual go-to guys of Rob Gronkowski (seven catches, 123 yards, touchdown) and James White (four catches, 38 yards, touchdown) were key to the victory, just as important were the contributions of Phillip Dorsett, who caught seven balls for 66 yards and a touchdown, and fullback James Develin, with four catches for 22.
Develin is most known for his blocking, and he did quite a bit of that leading for Rex Burkhead. With a thin receiving corps, however, Brady will find the open guy. If that’s the fullback, it’s the fullback.
And Develin might have made the most important play of the game, moving the chains with a 10-yard catch to allow the Patriots to hold the ball a little longer before surrendering it with under a minute to play and the defense making one last hold.
“I’m just trying to do what the coaches ask. If it’s a little check down, and catching the ball, you have to execute,” said Develin. “Every play means a lot.”
After fretting all summer about the Patriots offense, and how their quarterback was going to manage without favorite target Julian Edelman, who must sit out four games due to a PED suspension, and subsequently losing a fleet of receivers including Danny Amendola (free agency), Malcolm Mitchell (release), Kenny Britt (release), Jordan Matthews (release), Eric Decker (retirement), this was an important opening test.
And while Brady wasn’t overly pleased given the number of miscues — two fumbles lost and an interception — and stalled drives (Stephen Gostkowski kicked three field goals) right out of the gate, this was still better than most expected given how well they moved the ball against Houston’s defense.
For starters, Brady, who was a human punching bag when these teams met last year during the regular season (sacked five times, hit eight other times, three forced fumbles), was barely touched yesterday. Houston’s ferocious slate of pass rushers, led by J.J. Watt, Whitney Mercilus and Jadeveon Clowney, didn’t get near him in the first half, before finally getting some penetration in the second half.
So Brady got comfortable in the pocket, had time, and threw three touchdown passes before intermission on one of the best defenses in the NFL. So much for rust. So much for skipping offseason workouts and having that be a detriment.
But he wasn’t happy, even with that.
“We tried to spread it around quite a bit, and I think we did that at different times. We didn’t get into the (type of) rhythm that we would have liked to get into,” he said. “We made enough plays. We have to eliminate the turnovers. We have to basically do everything better. But it’s still great to get a win, and be 1-0.”
On the afternoon, Brady was 26-for-39 for 277 yards with three TD passes and the one pick, which came on a tipped ball. He was sacked twice, both of those coming in the second half.
Offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels really mixed it up with the offensive sets. The Pats still went with three-receiver sets (Chris Hogan, Cordarrelle Patterson, Dorsett) a good number of times. Patterson caught one ball, and took three handoffs from Brady on end-arounds. But McDaniels was creative and kept the Texans off balance.
He had Develin in there, but not always to block. And there were double-tight end, double-half back sets with Burkhead and White out there together a lot.
“Yeah, Coach McDaniels, he does a great job of dialing up plays whether it’s one of us on the field or two of us on the field,” said White. “We just want to get out there and execute it, show it in practice that we’re capable of doing a lot of different things. I think it can keep a defense off balance and we’ve just got to continue to improve and get better at it.”
Dorsett, who had a breakout game, said it was important to spread the ball around, keep the defense on its heels. Maybe they were looking at Gronk, maybe they were looking at White, but Brady kept slinging it around to others.
“They really don’t know who to focus on. That’s a big thing,” said Dorsett. “And as the offense evolves, we’re taking advantage of our matchups. That’s the good thing about this offense. You never really know what’s going to happen. You never really know where the ball’s going to go.”
The Texans certainly weren’t planning on the fullback, a guy who had six catches last year.
“We really don’t have that many guys right now in the tight end room, or the wide receiver room,” said Gronkowski. “We’re low on running backs, so we need to use everyone.”
And they will. That’s how they’ll survive the first four games without Edelman. It’s the Patriot Way.